#FashionStar Week 8 -“Men & Women, Bridging the Gender Gap”

It starts becoming a bit obvious how “show politics” come into play….. Since, every mentor STILL has at least 1 Designer on their team. This week they had to design a Men’s & Women’s piece that were complimentary to one another.

Daniel – sold to Express both designs….Men’s denim jacket @75k AND his bustier style Women’s denim romper @125k, which I hesitantly decided to buy (in 2 sizes). I absolutely love it! Now, I’m the opposite of his typical tall twiggy client. It’s rare I can wear a strapless well and extra rare for 1 piece to fit my curves (including thighs). My next hesitation is which size to keep, since it has a high percentage of cotton which I’m guessing will shrink. The 8 fits perfect (before washing), so leaning towards keeping the 10 then altering a smidge if needed. Stay tuned.

JesseRay & Garrett – Had a serious 3way for their little shirt dress! Express maxed at 160k, but Macy’s & Saks maxed at the 200k. Macy’s put up a good fight reminding them she has been a fan since day 1 and she helped save them last week, so of course they did make a good Macy’s business decision. This was not quite a Saks Woman kind of dress. Pretty cotton casual, but super duper cute! Their Men’s cotton jacket did not get bought. I did like the complimentary lt. blue cotton casual one that matched the one dress. Perfect for Express. And as Jessica said this was the “All American” look.

Cassandra – Well…. Lets just say she REALLY did step out on a limb with her pant! Very funky japanese looking with lots of zippers & detail. Very much for a ‘slim’ figure / body type. But, shockingly they were bought! Express @60k saying “pleats are in for spring and very fashion forward”. Take note that they did change the fly style in manufacturing, which was odd, since that’s kind of what made it, but I guess as a buyer Erika looked beyond that. Macy’s opted for the Women’s pant version @50k stating “it’s new and fresh”. Hmmm…. Gonna have to check the sales stats on these.

Hunter – Did not get either look bought. Men’s heavy brown bomber type jacket I did like, but out of season. And her Women’s white light weight sleeveless with toggle I REALLY liked! Thought for sure Express would have grabbed. Perfect ‘resort wear’ jacket and totally in season, that would have looked so cute with capri’s and Keds. I’m sad.

So, this week it was Ms. Silvia Arguello who said goodbye. She is an amazing Italian Designer (with a hot Italian brother – Ernesto Arguello, who was on READY FOR LOVE, where Silvia had a cameo). The 2 designs I added to my personal collection are favs! Imagine being part of that family…Pick me…Pick me! It was understandable that her FS road ended. Her designs were most often high end and admittedly complex, which makes for pricey production and not as mainstream. SAKS sure did drop a pretty penny on her designs over the season. WISH I could have gotten them all! Only downfall for one at 5’3″ purchasing from SAKS (non-petite) is the need for alterations, which is typically never necessary for my EXPRESS purchases, and rarely for my MACYS purchases. The mentors were all surprised her Women’s blouse was bought at all, let alone by SAKS, but Terron was unquestionably a lover of Silvia’s designs. I think he had a feeling this was her last hurrah and wanted 1 last item to really top off this collection he has pretty much already bought from her. It was her most simple design, an A-symmetrical slinky top. It was a good cocktail top for their customer. Her Men’s polo was nice and simple with the snaps, but just too basic for anyone to snatch. It lacked the truly exceptional ‘designer’ look that Sylvia has come to be known for. She did walk away very graciously. I’m guessing we’ll still see her in SAKS with a full collection, or another high end specialty department store. Her goal was to bring her designs to the U.S. and she certainly did.

I still have yet to watch this episode. I sooo wish they would do more for the average size of an American woman (16). For real! Why does the fashion industry STILL cater to thinner people when Americans are just getting larger!?

Important Links

Powered By

WomanlyWoman.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.